“Today is a celebration of life, heroism, duty, honor and commitment,” said Bill White, president of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which spearheaded the 16-month fund-raiser. White spoke to wounded troops in the audience of more than 3,000, when he said: “We salute you.” Democratic Senator and presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton sat in the front row on stage next to her Republican colleague Sen. John McCain, both of whom personally donated to the project. “We are blessed to have so many who have given so much. But in return we are obligated to ensure in every way we can, that they and their families are given the support they have so richly earned and deserve,” she said.
The new rehabilitation center is part of Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC), one of three major military hospitals that treat the most severely wounded, and home to the only Department of Defense burn center. Now its amputee care center will move to the Intrepid, which can accommodate 100 patients at a time. At least 24,000 military personnel have been injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, and more than 500 of those are amputees.
The sleek multistory oval structure housing the $50 million Center for the Intrepid is 60,000 square feet of the latest rehabilitation technology, including a virtual-reality dome and gait lab to help troops practice balance and walking, a climbing wall and even a wave pool. “That’s my new playground over there,” said Spc. Joshua Stein, 23, who hails from the far-flung Pacific island of Saipan. Spc. Stein had both his legs blown off in Taji, Iraq, in April 2006 by a roadside bomb, and shrapnel ripped through the tattoos on both forearms. He’s an island boy, so of course he’s looking forward to using the wave pool to build agility while he surfs.
Back on the home front, there are no Liberty Bonds or scrap-metal drives to help in the war effort. But this new facility, the largest and costliest of its kind ever built with private funds, is a show of support for the troops fighting today’s wars–if not the wars themselves, many at the opening ceremony observed. Staff Sgt. Jon Arnold-Garcia, 28, was blasted by a grenade in Hawija, Iraq, last spring and recently had a foot amputated. He said it meant more to him that the center was built through private donations. “It sends a strong message to the troops that although the country may be divided about whether we should be in Iraq, they unanimously support us.”
J.R. Martinez, 23, said a new battle is beginning for this crowd of “scars and stripes” troops nursing fresh wounds, and the Intrepid center will help them heal. Martinez, a spokesman for the Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes, a nonprofit that raised money for wounded and disabled members of the military, was injured early in the Iraq war on April 5, 2003, when the Humvee he was driving hit a landmine. The explosion trapped him in the burning vehicle and melted away one ear. Even now, after 32 surgeries, his face is laced with thick scars. “When I was here two and a half years ago you didn’t see nearly as much support,” he said. “They’re saying thank you in so many ways. It’s a morale booster.”
The Center for the Intrepid and the two new Fisher Houses will be operated by the Defense Department, but building them was purely a private endeavor. Radio-show host and contributor Don Imus helped raise the last 40 percent of the funds for the center by campaigning on his show for six weeks. Richard Santulli, chairman of the Fallen Heroes Fund, said, “That’s the American way, we don’t expect the government to address every need in our lives.” But some question why private funds were necessary. The Veterans Affairs department’s budget has grown from $48 billion in fiscal year 2001 to $80 billion in 2007, and funding for veteran health care is up 70 percent since 2000. But the costs of the current conflicts are yet to be realized, even as the armed forces expand to cope with new threats and current burdens.
Arnold Fisher, whose family started the nationwide network of 37 “home away from homes” at military and veterans’ health facilities for relatives of wounded troops, said they wanted to build something equal to the quality of their service to the country. “Some say the government should be building the center. Why wait for our government to do that which we can do on our own in half the time?” he asked the audience.
As Fisher approached the podium to speak, Cpl. Aaron Mankin, 25, a former combat correspondent with the Marines, jumped to his feet from his chair on stage, prompting a standing ovation from the rest of the crowd. Cpl. Mankin’s face was severely burned in Iraq by a roadside bomb in 2005 and his voice is hoarse from inhalation burns. His family rushed to Brooke Army Medical Center even before he arrived, and stayed in one of the older Fisher Houses on base. “They were being taken care of, and that’s something I didn’t have to worry about. Families don’t volunteer for this,” he said.
Talk-show host Rosie O’Donnell joined four Congressional Medal of Honor winners, actress Michelle Pfeiffer and other celebrities and dignitaries in the crowd. O’Donnell said she was asked to support America’s “bravest” both financially and emotionally, and did so. “It’s very humbling to be in their presence, it’s inspiring,” she said. The publicity that the big names brought for the ongoing fund-raising effort for the Fisher House Foundation and the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund was welcome. But the stars of the day were the wounded troops, who arrived by the dozens using wheel chairs or crutches, some with no hands to lay across their hearts, while the band played the Star Spangled Banner.
Pfc. Jesse Harrison, 22, arrived in San Antonio 10 days earlier after he broke his pelvis and both feet Dec. 28 in a roadside- bomb explosion in Iraq. “This is my first time outside since the accident,” he said, as his father adjusted his I.V. and wheeled him into place, and his father’s fiancée plumped some pillows under his feet. Roland Paquette, 28, a former staff sergeant with the 3rd Special Forces, wheeled into the ceremony with Rainbow, his black lab guide dog at his side. Rainbow helps him balance when he walks, and uses her paws to flick off light switches and fetch items. Both of his legs were amputated above the knees, and his spine was fused after an anti-tank mine explosion in Afghanistan. “I wanted to come out and support all the troops coming home,” he said. The Intrepid center “has everything a soldier needs to recover.”
Sen. McCain reminded the crowd that some troops have been asked to stay longer or depart from home early for the Iraqi war zone to support a “surge” of 21,000 troops. “When a nation goes to war a million tragedies ensue,” he said. “It is a sad and hard thing to ask so much more of the Americans who have already given so much.” His words solemnly underscored the reality that the Intrepid Center will likely receive many new patients in the months and years ahead.
